Well, I mowed the lawn, did grocery shopping, cleaned the garage up just a bit. Generally just wanted to put this off. I mean, what can be said? Pitt looked, played and was absolutely pathetic and incompetent. I only got about halfway through the Dave Wannstedt press conference on video before clicking it off in disgust. I don’t know what I was expecting him to say that would make me feel better about things, but that wasn’t it.
Oh, hell, let’s get to the Virginia side of this.
Fan and media dissatisfaction with Al Groh was rising after last season and the season opening loss to Wyoming really raised it. Now, UVa is 4-1 and the complaints are a little more muted. Yet, there is noting that the opposition hasn’t exactly made it difficult.
Pliable Pitt did its best to render those questions all but moot. So inept were the Panthers in the first half, the visitors gave away the ball as easily as they gave in to U.Va.’s offense.
Against Pitt, Jameel Sewell, who was so clueless against Wyoming, looked like a left-handed Vince Young, standing poised in the pocket and adroitly moving around rushers to carry the ball on foot.
It was the biggest crowd at Scott Stadium this season, but Shayne Hale and Cameron Saddler from Gateway didn’t make it to the game for their recruiting trip. Small comfort, since they Hale already had Pitt off his list. More useless information, this was the third straight game for Groh and Virginia against teams with former NFL HCs (Butch Davis — UNC and Chan Gailey — GT).
Virginia QB Jameel Sewell obviously looked good against Pitt. Imagine that, a mobile QB looking good against Pitt.
Aside from that fumbled punt return, Vic Hall for Virginia had a good night.
Virginia fans were able to return to their tailgates early and in a good mood last night.
A half-filled Scott Stadium with four minutes to play means one of two things.
The late-game reaction of Virginia’s players, some that coincided with handshakes, hugs and high-fives, proved the reasoning without forcing a fan to peek into the night toward the stadium’s scoreboard.
Of course, many of those seats were still vacant when Virginia raced out to an insurmountable lead during the first 14 minutes of the game.
The quick start – Virginia scored 27 in the first quarter – coupled with a fourth-quarter resurgence, lifted the Cavaliers to an expected win over Pittsburgh by an improbable margin, 44-14, in front of a season-best crowd of 60,888.
…
“They were ready to jump in with both feet. This isn’t a stick-your-toe-in-the-water team,” Virginia coach Al Groh said. “They were very ready to go tonight.”
The game was over quickly, even to Virginia fans.
Here’s how bad it is for Pitt, the game isn’t being taken for a deep meaning in Virginia.
Sometimes you don’t ask questions or explore too deeply. You simply take what the football gods and a generous opponent provide and say, “Gracias.”
Virginia had one of those nights. How else to explain a game in which the Cavaliers essentially delivered the knockout blow before the first north end zone, hillside human tumbleweed.
To be sure, there were a few anxious moments in the second half of the Cavaliers’ 44-14 victory against Pittsburgh. After all, this is Virginia we’re talking about, not Southern Cal or LSU.
And U.Va. coach Al Groh’s decision to execute a fake field goal for a touchdown with less than six minutes remaining in a 23-point game sure didn’t appear professionally courteous, especially for a couple of ex-NFL paisans. But we’ll leave that for Chairman Al and Pitt coach Dave Wannstedt to hash out behind the snack bar.
You know what, I don’t care about that. It may have been a bit bush, but so what? It was up to Pitt to stop them.
Moving to the Pittsburgh media, with the Steelers playing in Arizona, the columnists won’t be getting to this until maybe Wednesday. That’s okay, the beat writers jumped in for the deserved criticism of this team.
When Pitt hired coach Dave Wannstedt after the 2004 season, he promised to take the Panthers back to the Johnny Majors Era. So far, it looks as if he has delivered on that promise.
The only problem is these Panthers are starting to look a lot more like the 1990’s version during Majors’ second stint as Pitt’s head coach than the team that won the national championship in 1976.
That’s not a good thing as that second Majors stint marked one of the darkest periods in the university’s 117-year football history.
Yet for the second consecutive game, the Panthers (2-3) did their best imitation of those dead-teams walking…
Hard to really disagree.
Gorman went with the white flag from the opening play position.
Just when its 20-point loss to visiting Connecticut last week appeared to be a low for the Pitt football program, the Panthers (2-3) plummeted even further with its third consecutive loss and second in embarrassing fashion.
“The way we played does not mesh with how I feel, but I don’t believe we’re as bad a football team as what we’ve showed in the last two weeks,” Wannstedt said. “But - and that’s a big but - we are where we are right now. We haven’t given ourselves a chance, in my opinion, to show what type of team we are or what type of team we can be.
“I have been on one-win teams in college and the National Football League. I have been on undefeated teams in college and Super Bowl teams. We are doing everything in practice and preparation that championship teams do. Our kids are working as hard as any team I’ve been on.”
Well, then it is on the coaches.
This one wasn’t about being overmatched. Pitt was simply sloppy, committing costly turnovers and 11 penalties for 139 yards, which has become a recurring theme this year.
Worse, the Cavaliers (4-1) came in allowing more points (19.8) than they were scoring (19.2), but managed to score four touchdowns in the first 21:08 on drives consisting of only 39, 51 and 26 yards.
That rendered the debut of quarterback Pat Bostick and tailback LeSean McCoy in same starting backfield essentially meaningless. Virginia led 27-0 before Bostick, making his first career start, even attempted his first pass.
Gorman has some more stuff on his blog.
“They were executing. That was what they were doing all game. All the credit goes to them. They picked us apart,” McKillop said. “On our end, we’ve got to step up. When we go to the sideline, we’ve got to listen to coach Rhoads’ adjustments and we’ve got to go out there and apply them to the field.”
It’s not that Pitt has a poor game plan, just that the Panthers aren’t executing. At this point, the Panthers coaches ought to distance themselves from the word, especially with talk of putting them on the firing line.
Wait, someone is claiming that Rhoads understands the concept of adjustments?
And, based on McKillop’s comments, it already sounds like the Panthers are tuning out their coaches. Or, at least, they are starting to wonder if this season is a lost cause.
“There’s definitely going to be some doubt with our team, but the most important is we have leaders on our team who are going to have to step up and not have separation on our team, people forming groups and having a mutiny against everybody,” McKillop said. “We’ve got to stick together as a team. Everyone’s got to come in and push through this adversity.
“Right now, there’s been no finger-pointing with this team. We’re sticking together. Coach Wannstedt is preaching what he’s always preaching: ‘Trust. Accountability. Desire.’ We’re sticking to that.”
Well the players may be wondering. The fans pretty much have accepted this has become a lost season.
